Cathay Pacific Airways has tightened its crew arrival quarantine measures on Wednesday (17th), but it is still far from "closed-loop management", and the new crown virus still has a chance to spread in the community.
Over there, the media revealed that the recent increase in quarantine requirements has caused some pilots to resign. The government and airlines are in a dilemma.
Recently, a former pilot said that he would be willing to return to service under the new quarantine arrangement. However, there are many people of the same kind. The government and airlines should actively recruit them back to the nest and supplement the manpower to alleviate their urgent needs.
Under the new quarantine arrangement, the crew members can only leave home for a maximum of two hours a day for the first three days after returning to Hong Kong. During the remaining quarantine period, they should avoid participating in unnecessary social gatherings as much as possible. Movement restrictions during outstations will increase.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said that it was impossible to make no special arrangements for the crew because it had to take into account the supply of incoming goods and maintain social operations.
However, if the crew members bring the disease back to Hong Kong, they will always have the opportunity to spread the virus to the community, which will also affect the progress of customs clearance between the Mainland and Hong Kong.
Government expert advisor Xu Shuchang and other infectious disease scholars and doctors suggested that the crew members should be quarantined for seven days, which is relatively safe.
Re-appoint local pilots to relieve their burning eyebrows
This does not mean that society can ignore the difficulty of the number of pilots and shift arrangements.
Some newspapers quoted that Cathay Pacific is considering adjusting its staffing establishment, changing some of its pilots to other places, and returning to Hong Kong for isolation after two to four months on duty.
Although this arrangement can help reduce the risk of virus operators entering the community, and avoid the emergence of sudden situations like three pilots diagnosed on the first day of the month that caused 130 colleagues to be quarantined for 21 days, the pilots who are willing to leave Hong Kong for a long time and leave their families may only account for A few, may not be enough to cope with international cargo flights.
It is said that some Cathay Pacific pilots have difficulty accepting past and new quarantine measures, and some have already resigned from their employers.
If the situation persists, there will be a shortage of freighter pilots.
A former pilot accepted an interview with "Hong Kong 01" and suggested that Cathay Pacific could re-employ local pilots who had been dismissed earlier, are currently waiting for work or changed careers, and the number is estimated to exceed 200.
The former pilot also said that he had accepted the new quarantine arrangement, so that after receiving training, he could become familiar with the operation and fly the cargo plane.
Since there are former pilots who are willing to accept them, Cathay Pacific should actively absorb them. The primary goal is to supplement the resignation staff.
If the manpower is relatively abundant, the government and airlines can even reconsider the seven-day quarantine arrangement to consolidate the foreign defense import strategy.
Cathay Pacific requires exemption from quarantine for crew members who must stay home for the first three days after returning to Hong Kong.
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Companies must help employees adapt to the quarantine period
In the case of pilot infection, the government and airlines seem to be "watching food and eating", so that quarantine measures are restricted by the manpower and willingness of the current pilots.
As long as the two sides think about one more step, starting from the expansion of pilots, airlines will have the conditions to maintain a stable business and local cargo supply while complying with stricter epidemic prevention guidelines.
Even if the world epidemic slows down, the epidemic prevention arrangements in various places will still be maintained for at least half a year to one year, and there will still be some benefits in hiring additional pilots.
Of course, airlines and society should pay more attention to the physical and psychological pressure of crew members on continuous duty and quarantine.
In Taiwan, a foreign pilot died suddenly in the second half of last month. Afterwards, he alleged that he had to fly multiple long-distance flights in the previous 20 days and had to be quarantined. He could not go out casually. He complained to his friends about physical and mental fatigue during his lifetime.
The local air crew union did not rule out that the death was related to intensive work, and pointed out that the pilot’s plight was not an isolated situation.
Regardless of whether the causal relationship between the two is true, even if the crew members are now subject to the new quarantine restrictions, they may not fully adapt when they are implemented. Airlines must provide emotional support and encourage peer mutual assistance to help them through this extraordinary period.
The government should discuss with airlines the tightening of quarantine arrangements, crew members must be exempted from quarantine, and the tightening of quarantine exemptions must be reviewed. The supporting work must be done well.
